Putin 'longs' to re-establish the Soviet Union?

(Baonghean.vn) - "The Soviet Union should have been reformed, not collapsed" - Express on September 24 quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin in a meeting with party leaders after the recent Lower House election.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and former President Mikhail Gorbachev – who announced the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Photo: Internet.

Meeting with the leaders of the parties represented in the 7th Russian Duma, President Vladimir Putin said: “You should know my view on the collapse of the Soviet Union. It should not have happened that way. It was possible to carry out reforms so that the Soviet Union could continue to exist with democratic features. But I want to make it clear that the Communist Party is responsible for the fate of the Soviet Union, not any other party.”

Mr Putin's comments come amid rising tensions between Russia and the West, and some say his actions could be seen as a new provocation.

The Soviet Union dissolved on December 26, 1991, after President Mikhail Gorbachev, the 8th and last president of the Soviet Union, announced his resignation and transferred power to new President Boris Yeltsin.

However, according to Mr. Putin, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at that time should have carried out reforms to turn the Soviet Union into a democratic entity instead of declaring its dissolution.

The Russian Communist Party remains a political force today with representation in the Russian Duma.

Previously, in a speech before the National Assembly in April 2005, President Putin also called the collapse of the Soviet Union "the greatest geopolitical disaster of the century".

His statement was quoted by world media, claiming that Russia wanted to return to socialism.

Last year, in an interview, Mr. Putin frankly declared that Russia had no plans to return to the former Soviet era, but he complained that “nobody believes what I say.”

Mr Putin accused European governments of using this to confuse Russians and to make some former Soviet states such as Ukraine take inappropriate actions to prevent “imaginary threats”.

Diep Khanh

(According to Express)